


𝒊 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏

by spaceodditybarnes



Category: No Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:47:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29139522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceodditybarnes/pseuds/spaceodditybarnes





	𝒊 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏

If someone had asked you, aged four, where you thought you’d be in twenty-one years, you never would have answered with heavily pregnant and living out of a suitcase in Ontario. You would have given the cliche answer of living like a princess in some castle out of one of your fairytales – but yet, life enjoys throwing unexpected curveballs every now and then.

So how on Earth had you found yourself pregnant and living out a suitcase in a dingy motel in Ontario?

ｏｎｅ ｙｅａｒ ｅａｒｌｉｅｒ

“I hate it when you perch on my counters like that.” Bucky grumbled, entering the kitchen to find you sat on a counter. Your laptop was playing some random episode of Community as you munched on some cereal.

You simply shrugged in response, flicking your last remaining Cheerio at your grouchy elder brother before closing the lid of your laptop and jumping off the counter. You had been living with Bucky for twelve years now, having moved in three months after a drunk driver had carelessly murdered the rest of your family and left you recovering in a hospital bed for two months. 

You felt like it was your duty to annoy Bucky, especially when he constantly nagged you about not sitting on his counters. In his defence, they were marble imported from Italy and were rather expensive, so perhaps you could see why he didn’t appreciate people using them as chairs. But then again, you’d caught him sitting on the counter several times and wouldn’t let him nag you about the one thing he’d do too.

“I’m coming in with you today. Tony said that he’d look into my case since the last lawyer let the asshole get away with it.” You reminded Bucky, packing your laptop into your laptop case and sliding fuzzy socked feet into your sneakers. Bucky grunted, grabbing the car keys.

Aside from the few odd remarks in the mornings, you and Bucky never really spoke to each other. He was a hardened member of an extensive crime family, whilst you spent most of your time working at the pet rescue centre. You were both very different people, and yet he understood you better than anyone else.

The drive to the warehouse that they operated from was longer than you would have liked. Traffic had built up, and Bucky’s frustrated mood was getting worse with every passing second. You knew that he wouldn’t explode in the car, that he’d remain calm for your own sake, but you just couldn’t help but feel afraid.

Forty-five minutes later, and Bucky was pulling into an empty space mere seconds before you exited the vehicle. Steve was waiting for you at the door, a small smile on his face as he tapped your shoulder three times. Iloveyou. The two of you had been dating for the past six months, still keeping it a secret from your brother.

You supposed Bucky wouldn’t care much, he trusted Steve, but the idea of keeping it a secret sent waves of adrenaline coursing through you. Keeping a secret was fun, although you supposed that at least three of your close friends already knew – Carol, Natasha, and Wanda. It was also incredibly likely that Peter Parker knew too, although how he found out, you weren’t too sure.

The consequences of keeping something like this a secret far outweighed the benefits, however, but there never seemed to be a right time to expose the relationship yourself. The Howlies were constantly in trouble with rival gang, Hydra, and you definitely didn’t want to get in the way of anything. So Steve, being the ever-so level headed man he is, suggested that you keep quiet for now – for your own personal safety more than anything.

And so, leaving Steve and Bucky alone, you ventured into a spacious office where the best lawyer in the whole of New York City was waiting for you. Tony Stark, better known in the law community as Iron Man, smiled as he watched you enter. “Good morning, gorgeous lady, how are we doing today?”

“Good morning, Tones. I’m doing good, although I suppose you won’t be if a certain Barnes boy hears what you call me in secret.” You warned, a playful smile on your face as you sat down on the scarlet couch. This office was often used by Wanda Maximoff, and so it was no surprise that the decor was muted, vivid and classy reds. “So, what’s the plan?”

“I’ve read case studies, witness statements, accessed your medical records from after the crash and honestly, he should have been jailed a long time ago. But alas, he comes from very old money so I’m not surprised he’s bought his way out of it time and time again.” Your face dropped at Tony’s initial review of it, and you knew there was no point hoping. “But, you’ve got the best lawyer on your side and from what I’ve heard, he’s not doing too great financially and can’t afford good lawyers anymore.”

“So you can nail him for this?”

Tony looked thoughtful, looking back down at the files and humming to himself. A small smile before, “yes. We can definitely get him on this. Jailing him won’t bring your family back, but you’ll finally get peace after twelve years. I promise we can do this.”

Tears welled up in your eyes, and you couldn’t help but begin crying at Tony’s promise. Both Tony, and you, knew that it was wrong to make promises to clients, especially if they couldn’t be kept, but Tony was the best in the business and if anyone could keep a promise as big as this one, it would definitely be him. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! Oh Gosh, this…I can’t begin to express just how happy this makes me!”

You gave Tony a quick hug before racing out of the office in a desperate attempt to seek out your brother, wanting to share the news with the one person who had been there through it all. And Bucky had. He had been the one who had stayed by your side day and night as you recovered. He had been the one to take you to therapy, pick up prescriptions for antidepressant after antidepressant. Bucky had been the one to sit with you for twenty-two hours after a breakdown had him scared for your own safety.

And Bucky had been the one to pick you up from an inpatient centre six times over the course of two years. 

But it wasn’t Bucky you had found. It was Steve, and he looked panicked. “Listen baby. Natasha’s gone to the apartment you share with Bucky and she’s packing you a suitcase. Clint’s with her, whilst Wanda and Carol are arranging transport and safe accommodation. I can’t share the details, but we gotta go and it’s gonna be tonight.”

“What about my brother? If we’re running away, and you can’t say why, it means something bad has happened. Is he okay?” You were worrying now. And all your boyfriend could do was bring you into a hug, trying to pacify you.

“He’s gonna be okay, my love. He’ll come and find us when this is all over, I promise you that.” Steve Rogers may be part of a massive criminal empire, but he was no liar, and you trusted him more than anything. The two of you stood, embracing one another, until the girls had found the pair of you.

“Your bags are loaded in the truck. Thor’s gonna drive you to Canada and he’ll stay with you just until Bucky gets to you. He’s got any important documentation, and necessary protection, that you’ll need. Stay safe guys, we’ll speak to you when we can.” Carol looked flustered, but they all looked equally upset at you leaving.

There was no time for tearful goodbyes, no time for anything sentimental. Because the longer the two of you took to leave, the chances of you getting out alive were lessened with every minute. It was simply a matter of hugging those who wouldn’t be escorting the pair of you to the car, and saying a quick goodbye to those who had escorted you to the car. But what broke your heart most, was not being able to share the good news with your brother.

“They’ll look after him, sweetheart. He’s gonna be okay.” Steve reassured you, rubbing his thumb on your hand as Thor drove you to an unknown location in Canada. What should have been a thirty-four hour journey took a total of forty-eight hours, the extra fourteen hours caused by several stops for gas and snacks. Thor had been graceful too, giving extra time for you to say goodbye to the city you had grown up in. “I love you.”

As soon as the two of you were unpacked, Thor talked you through everything you had to do to ensure your personal safety until things had simmered down. A lot of it was fairly simple, easy things to do like you dying your hair, Steve growing out his beard. The hardest one for the two of you was cutting all contact with the family back home. The family you had built over the course of twelve years were ripped away from you. And the worst part was, you didn’t even know why.

You pestered Steve everyday for six months, begging to be let into the one secret that was kept from you. But each time Steve refused to tell you, and instead would distract you with something else. Until one day, you were sat down by your boyfriend and he told you that he needed to be honest. That it was time he told you the truth, and boy did the truth shock you.

“Somehow, Hydra found out. We don’t know how, but they’re working on it, but they threatened your safety. They’ve been going after me for years now, but they’ve never been able to get to me. Not until you, so I told Bucky the truth and that we had to get you out.” Steve’s apologetic tone of voice had confused you. The pair of you had agreed to tell Bucky that you were dating at some point, so you couldn’t figure out why he was sorry.

You had a suspicious feeling that your relationship with Steve was the reason behind suddenly having to run, but you didn’t mind. You’d rather be two-thousand, one-hundred and seventy three miles from home with the love of your life by your side than be so far from anyone, and not have Steve. The situation wasn’t great, there was no denying that, but you were getting through it because of Steve. Because of all the love the two of you shared could weather out any storm.

“Oh, okay.” You just shrugged the explanation off, the feeling that you were behind it had been confirmed and suddenly needing to know why just wasn’t important to you anymore. “Can we cuddle?”

Steve, ever so loving wrapped you up in the biggest hug possible and the two of you were quite content to lay on the couch for hours on end as the sound of raindrops was drowned out by the television playing a random movie neither of you was listening to. And that’s how the routine went for six months until one cloudy Wednesday evening, Bucky found you and you told him that he was going to be an Uncle.

The announcement came as a surprise to the man, but it only spurred him on to leave a life of crime behind. He wanted to always be around for his niece or nephew, and whilst the Howlies were his found family, you were the family who needed him the most. So three days after your big news, he travelled back to make his departure from the Howlies legit. Until it all went wrong.

Having heard he was back, Hydra got to him. And less than forty-eight hours later, you and Steve had to pack up and drive to Ontario because Hydra had found you. Nobody would tell you why they were moving you again, much like nobody would tell you if Bucky was okay. Because you were pregnant, and they couldn’t bear to stress you out any further so they just explained they had found a nice family home in the Canadian city.

But for now, the two of you would be living out of a suitcase in a dingy motel, not knowing what would happen in three months, or even a year. “Bucky’s gonna be okay, baby. He’ll come find us soon.” Steve placated you, the two of you curled up in the creaky bed as Thor dozed in the couch. A lovely woman, Maria Hill, had found the two of you and was keeping watch – your pregnancy meant that they were being extra cautious.

Not that you minded, for it meant that you had a female around. Sure, she wasn’t glitzy or glamorous, but it was still nice to have someone like you around. The two of you didn’t speak much, but there was an unspoken vow that she’d protect you. Or die trying at the very least. Days turned into weeks, almost in the blink of an eye, and one Sunday morning, close to your eighth month of pregnancy, you and Steve got married in a small church. It was just the two of you, a priest, Maria and Thor but it was enough.

You knew married life wouldn’t be simple, but with the trials and tribulations you had been through, it was easier than what one might say. The hardest part of it all was not having Bucky around, but you had your golden husband and two months later, you had your beautiful son – James Grant Rogers, named after the Uncle he would never get to meet, and the best father and husband you knew.

Life may have thrown curveballs at you, but you had made it out alive.


End file.
